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Tag Archives: Department of Justice

For those who have been wondering—as I did in a previous post—what the new presidential administration would mean for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency that has been in Republicans’ crosshairs virtually since it came into existence, we now have at least the beginnings of a concrete answer. Claiming that the CFPB’s leadership … Continue Reading

With 2016 rapidly drawing to a close, here are some thoughts regarding the types of litigation and legal/regulatory issues that will likely be top-of-mind for financial services companies, especially mortgage companies and banks, in 2017: RMBS Suits and Mortgage Repurchase or Indemnification Claims I admit it—I never would have thought, when I started working on … Continue Reading

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, a highly influential appellate court sitting in New York, on September 26 issued a unanimous ruling with major implications for antitrust and unfair competition laws, the payment card industry, and merchants that accept payments by credit card. The Second Circuit reversed a district court win … Continue Reading

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit accusing MasterCard, Visa and three major banks of illegally fixing ATM prices to the detriment of consumers. A federal district judge had thrown out the lawsuit in 2013 after finding the plaintiffs failed to show any conspiracy to overcharge consumers. On Tuesday, the federal appeals court in … Continue Reading

Evidence is mounting that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are taking a renewed interest in investigating possible redlining—the practice of lenders charging certain groups more for products, or altogether excluding minorities within certain geographic areas. There has been a substantial increase in recent months of warnings by government … Continue Reading

Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgage lender, filed suit on Friday, April 17 in the United States District Court in Detroit against the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In the suit, Quicken alleged that it is a target of a probe in … Continue Reading

BofA’s “hustling” attempt to overturn a $1.27 billion judgment against it and Countrywide—along with the individual defendant identified in the next paragraph, the “Defendants”—in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for fraud in the sale of loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has proved unavailing. Judge Jed Rakoff of … Continue Reading

Citigroup announced last week that it will pay $7 billion to end an investigation by the U.S Department of Justice into misconduct related to its mortgage securitization practices. The blockbuster settlement came days before DOJ lawyers were expected to file a lawsuit. $4.5 billion will go towards settling civil claims related to the DOJ probe, … Continue Reading

As detailed in an August 2013 Salon article by David Dayen and a September 2013 Bloomberg Businessweek article by Karen Weise, West Palm Beach, Florida homeowner and attorney Lynn Szymoniak helped blow the whistle on widespread fraud in the mortgage industry. Over the past few years, Szymoniak has helped the U.S. government recover millions of dollars from … Continue Reading

On Tuesday, the United States Justice Department announced that it finalized a settlement agreement with JPMorgan Chase for $13 billion. This settlement will resolve a multitude of state and federal investigations into JPMorgan Chase’s sale of residential mortgage-backed securities to investors between 2005 and 2008. In addition to paying fines for securities violations, the proceeds … Continue Reading

A federal jury ruled yesterday that Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America, defrauded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by selling them defective mortgages in advance of the great financial crisis of 2008. A former Countrywide executive, Rebecca Mairone, was also found liable in the case. Whistleblower Exposed Countrywide’s “Hustle” Program The Justice Department lawsuit … Continue Reading

Preliminary conclusions suggest that JPMorgan may have broken federal laws with its sale of mortgage securities The civil division of the Justice Department has preliminarily concluded that JPMorgan broke federal laws in connection with its sale from 2005 to 2007 of subprime and Alt-A residential mortgage securities, and the bank is now under criminal investigation. Federal prosecutors are examining … Continue Reading

Civil Lawsuits Filed Stop me if you have heard something like this before. The Department of Justice announced a civil lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that Bank of America defrauded buyers of mortgage-backed securities by lying about the quality of the home loans involved. The Securities and Exchange Commission also announced a parallel case against BofA. … Continue Reading

Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a civil suit in the Central District of California against Standard & Poor’s Financial Services (S&P) and its parent company McGraw-Hill. The suit alleges that S&P engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) and Collateralized Debt Obligations(CDOs). As noted in the DOJ’s … Continue Reading

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